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Archive of posts filed under the Academic Life category.

Last week, my husband and I had the opportunity to go see Alan Alda give a talk at the National Academies of Sciences called “Beyond a Blind Date With Science.” The talk was amazing (see a clip here). In short, Dr. Alda was making the point that the American public is on a “blind date” with …

In academia, everyone acknowledges the value of applying for and receiving grants. But while it is the large grants that fund expensive designs, labs, and data analysis that get the most attention for bringing money into the university and enabling research, the smaller grants to encourage collaboration can be just as powerful for research. Last …

First, a disclaimer: I have not written a textbook, and have no plans to in the near future. But I have to say, this article in Slate that claims that any professor who assigns their own textbook is a Gilderoy Lockhart – or in other words, an “egomaniacal twit” – really angered me. Much as …

The New York Times article over the weekend entitled “Relax! You’ll Be More Productive” really hit home for me, and not just because I really enjoy a good afternoon nap. The article reviews current research to suggest that not only should people take more time to vacation and sleep, but also that people tend to …

Twitter has taken a lot of heat for its flaws. Despite the millions of tweets (or some claim billions) sent each day, others point out that its penetration to the American market is small (with 15% of adults using Twitter and only 8% checking it daily). Even more troubling is research that suggests the Twitterverse …